Process and device for the production of irregular design effects on flat structures

ABSTRACT

Process for the continuous production of irregular, optionally multicolor, design effects on flat structures, preferably on the basis of textile materials, especially of carpet material, by spreading a liquid dyestuff composition onto a substrate web to be dyed or colored, and then fixing the dyestuff applied according to usual methods, which comprises applying the dye liquor by means of flat or curved rotating disks arranged in horizontal position, which divide the dye liquor supplied continuously or in drops to their surfaces, owing to the centrifugal force imparted to it by the rotation of the disks, into individual drops of different size, which are then centrifuged from there owing to their weight under the influence of gravity and at a determined angle of spread, over the full width of the material web to be dyed or colored, which is horizontally passed beneath the disks, and device for carrying out this process.

United States Patent [191 [451 Sept. 9, 1975 PROCESS AND DEVICE FOR THE PRODUCTION OF IRREGULAR DESIGN EFFECTS ON FLAT STRUCTURES [75] Inventor: Manfred Pliitz, Wustems, Germany [73] Assignee: Hoechst Aktiengesellschaft,

Frankfurt am Main, Germany [22) Filed: Aug. 3, 1973 [21] Appl. No: 385,322

Juvinall v. 118/323 X Stcarns 239/224 Prinwry Examiner-Harvey C. Hornsby Assistant Examiner-C. K. Moore Attorney, Agent, or FirmCurtis, Morris & Safford [57] ABSTRACT Process for the continuous production of irregular, optionally multicolor, design effects on flat structures, preferably on the basis of textile materials, especially of carpet material, by spreading a liquid dyestuff composition onto a substrate web to be dyed or colored, and then fixing the dyestuff applied according to usual methods, which comprises applying the dye liquor by means of flat or curved rotating disks arranged in horizontal position, which divide the dye liquor supplied continuously or in drops to their surfaces, owing to the centrifugal force imparted to it by the rotation of the disks, into individual drops of different size, which are then centrifuged from there owing to their weight under the influence of gravity and at a determined angle of spread, over the full width of the material web to be dyed or colored, which is horizontally passed beneath the disks, and device for carrying out this process.

8 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures PATENTED SEP 9 975 snmlurg FIG. 1b

FlG.1d

PATENTED SEP 9 I975 sum 2 HF 1 PATENTEDSEP 1915 SHEET 3 [IF 4 PROCESS AND DEVICE FOR THE PRODUCTION OF IRREGULAR DESIGN EFFECTS ON FLAT STRUCTURES The present invention relates to a process and a device for the production of irregular design effects on flat structures.

ln the textile industry, especially in the production of carpets, customers demands are for irregular color designs sometimes for reasons of fashion. Many attempts have therefore been made to produce these designs. For example, according to the methods disclosed in German Offenlegungsschrift Nos. 1,760,657 and 1,802,318, thickened dye liquors are applied drop-wise by means of metering devices, for example rollers provided with doctor elements, and then dropping boards provided with dropping spouts or gutters, onto the carpet web passed beneath them and then the dyestuffs thus applied are fixed in usual manner. In order to obtain drops of different size according to those methods, some of the drops that fall by gravity are broken by means of cutting devices, some not. When the dyestuff compositions that have been applied dropwise flow out, irregular patterns of larger or smaller color spots are then obtained on the goods. Several spreading devices of the above type which are arranged one behind the other in the transport direction of the goods and charged with different dye liquors, for example red and blue ones, allow multicolor effects to be achieved. Due to the relatively high and complicated technical expenditure, this type of coloring is expensive since several machine units required for this purpose have to be put in series. Multicolor effects, which differ, however, only in shading, are also obtained with liquors of the same shade using fibrous material that has a different affinity for the dyestuff in the pile of the carpet material. A similar method for producing designs as men tioned above is disclosed in German Offenlegungsschrift No. 1,949,801. According to another method disclosed in German Offenlegungsschrift No. 2,020,445, the dye liquors are applied under pressure onto the material to be dyed by means of nozzles at variable intervals. In this case, the finely sprayed dye stuff is deposited on the goods, for example with the aid of an electrostatic field. Finally, German Pat. Nos. 357,990 and 401,307 disclose methods that allow even multicolored designs to be obtained on fabrics or paper by simply pouring dye liquors continuously or in drops into the nippers joint of a padding machine, through which the substrate to be dyed is passed.

It has now been found that irregular, optionally multicolor design effects can be produced on flat structures, preferably on the basis of textile material, especially of carpet material, moreover on wall paper and draperies, by spreading liquid dyestuff compositions onto the upper or pile-thread side of a continuously transported substrate web to be dyed or colored and then fixing the dyestuffs applied according to usual methods, when the application of the dye liquor is performed by means of horizontally positioned flat or curved rotating disks which divide the dyeing liquid fed onto their surfaces continuously or in drops, owing to the centrifugal force imparted to it by the rotation of the disks, into individual drops of different size, which are then centrifuged from the disks owing to their weight under the influence of gravity and are spread at a determined angle over the full width of the material web to be dyed or colored, which is horizontally passed beneath the disks.

The principal line of the present invention is to feed a dye liquor, which is suitable for the type of substrate concerned and may even not contain any thickener, from storage vessels via valves serving as metering devices or other special metering elements continuously or dropwise onto one or generally more rotating disks arranged in horizontal position, to break this liquor by centrifugal force into drops of different size and then to spread these onto the material web to be dyed or colored, which is passed horizontally beneath the disks. The rotational speed of the disks may match the viscosity of the dye liquor so that the size of the drops can be varied within certain limits by adapting these two factors to each other. The angle of spread of the projected dyestuff solutions or dispersions may be modified by means of peripheral shutters which are arranged around the rotating disks and are adjustable in their positions. At the same time, excess dye liquor collected by means of this shutter may also be conveyed back to the dye spreading disks. The interaction of dye liquor viscosity, impact angle and speed of the drops hitting the material as well as absorptivity of the material to be dyed or colored allows irregular designs of color spots of different shape and size to be obtained.

The process of the invention permits a simple production of similar dyeing effects as obtained according to the prior art method disclosed in German Offenlegungsschrift No. 1,760,657, without requiring too high a technical expenditure, such as several apparatus units being arranged in series in the case of multicolor effects. According to the present process, it is sufficient to combine several dye spreading disks in one device and to feed to them individually dye liquors of different colors supplied from different storage tanks. Multicolor designs may also be obtained by applying the dye liquor after or prior to dyeing or coloring a solid shade or to untreated material without a solid-shade coloration.

This invention also relates to a device for carrying out the novel process for applying the dye liquors to flat structures in the form of spots or strokes of different size with the aid of centrifugal force, which substantially consists of a closable casing in which a. at least one storage tank for the dyestuff composition, provided with a discharge tube to control the discharged amount optionally by means of a valve,

b. at least one spreading element for the dye liquor to be applied to the material, and

c. elements for the horizontal support and transport of the goods to be dyed or colored at open width through the treatment zone, are arranged in the order (a), (b) and (c) independently of each other and one beneath the other, wherein the element (b) is a circular dye spreading disk which is installed in horizontal position and rotatable in any direction about its axis and which is partly surrounded at its periphery by adjustable boundary shutters.

According to the device of the invention, the dye spreading disks (plates) may have a flat or conical, concave or convex shape. They may also be provided with superimposed guiding sheets (fins) which extend from the edge of the disk toward the center of the disk and which cause the dye liquor supplied to be further bro ken and distributed. Each of the dye spreading plates is peripherally equipped with adjustable boundary shutters which serve to control a determined angle of spread for the dye liquor.

These boundary shutters are connected to a collector, in which excess liquor is gathered and from which it is recycled to the corresponding storage tank. The disks may, for example, be driven by means of a shaft and bevel gears within the suspension of the disks and of the collector in any sense of rotation. The goods to be dyed or colored are transported by means of guiding rollers and a supporting sheet or sieve. The closed casing prevents further splashing of the dye liquor.

One embodiment of the device of the invention is shown diagrammatically by way of example in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. la shows a topview and FIGS. lb to 1d show three cross sections of possible shapes of the dye spreading disk;

FIGS. and 2b shows a topview and a cross section of a dye spreading disk for the distribution of the dye liquor and the back flow of the liquor;

FIGS. and 3b shows topviews on possible arrangements of the dye spreading disks;

FIG. 4 shows a cross section of the whole device.

The references given in FIGS. 1 to 4 have the following meanings:

l. Dye spreading disk (dye distributing plate) topview la-lc. Dye spreading disk various cross sections 2. Guide sheets (fins) for liquor distribution 3. Suspension of dye spreading disk and gear 4. Adjustable boundary shutters (sheets) to control spreading of liquor 5. Recycling of liquor to storage tank 6. Wall of casing 7. Cuttling-off roller, guiding rollers 8. Web of material (carpet material) 9. Sieve support 10. Storage tanks for dye liquors ll. Metering valve 60 Angle of spread We claim:

1. A device suitable for carrying out a continuous process for producing irregular design effects by applying dye liquor to flat structures in the form of spots or strokes of different size with the aid of centrifugal force, which device consists of a closable casing in which a. at least one storage tank for the dye liquor, provided with a discharge tube to control the discharged amount,

b. at least one spreading element for applying the dye liquor to the material, and

c. elements for the horizontal support and transport of the material to be dyed or colored at open width through the treatment zone, are arranged in the order (a), (b) and (c) independently of one another and one beneath the other, wherein the element (b) is a substantially horizontal circular dye spreading disc rotatable in either direction about its axis and partly surrounded at its periphery by adjustable boundary shutters or sheets.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the upper surface of the dye spreading disk has a flat shape.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the upper surface of the dye spreading disk has a conical shape.

4. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the upper surface of the dye spreading disk has a concave shape.

5. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the upper surface of the dye spreading disk has a convex shape.

6. A device as claimed in claim I, wherein the surface of the dye spreading disk is provided with one or more superimposed fins for guiding the liquor, radiating from the center of the disc.

7. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the casing contains several spreading elements (b) arranged one beside the other.

8. A device as claimed in claim I, wherein the casing contains several spreading elements (b) arranged one behind the other.

I it 

1. A device suitable for carrying out a continuous process for producing irregular design effects by applying dye liquor to flat structures in the form of spots or strokes of different size with the aid of centrifugal force, which device consists of a closable casing in which a. at least one storage tank for the dye liquor, provided with a discharge tube to control the discharged amount, b. at least one spreading element for applying the dye liquor to the material, and c. elements for the horizontal support and transport of the material to be dyed or colored at open width through the treatment zone, are arranged in the order (a), (b) and (c) independently of one another and one beneath the other, wherein the element (b) is a substantially horizontal circular dye spreading disc rotatable in either direction about its axis and partly surrounded at its periphery by adjustable boundary shutters or sheets.
 2. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the upper surface of the dye spreading disk has a flat shape.
 3. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the upper surface of the dye spreading disk has a conical shape.
 4. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the upper surface of the dye spreading disk has a concave shape.
 5. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the upper surface of the dye spreading disk has a convex shape.
 6. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the surface of the dye spreading disk is provided with one or more superimposed fins for guiding the liquor, radiating from the center of the disc.
 7. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the casing contains several spreading elements (b) arranged one beside the other.
 8. A device as claimed in claim 1, wHerein the casing contains several spreading elements (b) arranged one behind the other. 